It is that time of year where most of us have many distractions (aka things that get in the way of training). It is hard to not get a little frustrated when things get in the way of training. After all this is very important to me. It is important enough to spend money for coaching. It is money I have available but lets face it, it could be spent in more "productive"ways. I am old enough now that retirement is looming, so any dollar that does not go into the retirement fund should be justified carefully. For the last 10 years or so it was money for the kids college. Like most in the U.S. I work at a company that does not have a pension plan. We have 401K's and some matching and I contribute to that but you can never be quite sure that you will have enough when I retire. The word retire is also a relative term. Retirement to me means not having a career oriented full time job. When the time comes to retire I will probably still be employed at something. Maybe work at the local gym. It might be good a good image for a gym to have a few fit older people around.
Timing of workouts is also important. So anything that disrupts the cycle is at best annoying. It can be disruptive enough to alter your entire training schedule. If a disruption occurs I contact my coach (e-mail or text) and he alters my schedule for the week. In most cases this will alter subsequent training schedules. Obviously this is why I pay for a coach. I get a certain number of alterations to my schedule per week. If I did not I could spend a lot less and buy a canned workout plan on the internet. If I consistently have too many alterations I need to change my method of assessing my availability for the week (see an earlier post for this No rest from October ).
Whether timing or money the main source of frustration is my own selfishness. I like doing this (training) and I want to do it on my schedule and the rest of the world will just have to live with it. So this is some of my "tricks" for dealing with distractions:
- Prioritize, very difficult to do. Triathlon is a big part of my life but it is not my entire life. I do not earn my living with it. It is not my family life. Say it over and over and maybe it will make sense.
- But, stick to your guns. If you have things scheduled you should do them, don't let friends, family TV, Giants games etc. deter you. It can be very easy to be derailed.
- 1.) and 2.) are obviously conflicts. The best way to address the conflict is realistic scheduling. This is definitely where a coach comes in handy.
- Let everyone know what is going on. I have found that people are very understanding when you take on something like training for ironman. It does not have to be just a physical goal. Many people my age return to school part time. I cannot ask a friend to miss an exam or a class. Same goes for a musician preparing for a big show.
P.S. I started this post just before Christmas and got distracted by all the Holiday stuff.
